gmg, i'm randi kaye. i'm 8:00. we begin with a big question about about one of the most powerful man in syria. where is syrian vice president farouq sharaa. all this is happening as the death toll in syria is rising, at least 34 people have been killed across the country today. we'll have a live report in just minutes on the situation there. now, a heart-wrenching story. a pregnant 16-year-old leukemia patient has lost her life in the dominican republic and now her grieving mother says doctors failed to put her daughter's health first and delayed chemotherapy because of their stringent anti-abortion laws. >> the teenage girl died from

xliction of leukemia according to authorities in sanity domi o domingo. doctors were hesitant to give her chemotherapy. she was admitted to the hospital in early july but 20 ds passed before she finally began receiving the chemotherapy that could have saved her life. a hospital official told cnn her condition worsened thursday evening. she suffered a miscarriage friday morning, followed by cardiac arrest. her body rejected a blood transfusion and she died a few hours later. >> my mom. >> the girl's mother reacted with great sadness, saying she feels as if she's died as well and that her daughter was the reason of her existence. she also said, they have killed her. doctors who treated the patient said the chances of survival for the teenager were slim when she was admitted at the hospital, even without taking into account

the fact she was ten weeks pregnant. >> translator: when we first publicly spoke about her case we said she was with a slim prognosis. >> a case much this girl stirred debate in her country. the question many are asking is whether she would have been able to survive had she been treated with chemotherapy right after she was admitted to the hospital. according to article 37 of the dominican constitution, the right to life is inviolable from the moment of conception and until death. article 37 passed in 2009, also abolished the death penalty. rafael romo, senior latin affairs editor. health officials are telling them to throw away cantaloupe

from indiana. health officials are warning people, don't try to wash the fruit because the outside and inside could be infected. last year 29 people died from a listeria outbreak in cantaloupe. to the pacific northwest where a massive wildfire is closing in on a small town in idaho. the western u.s. has been battling dozens of wildfires, fueled by drought and strong winds. just look at this video from our ireporter from earlier this week. incredible scenes there. in washington, some families are returning to their home. 60 houses destroyed there. firefighters are still working to contain some fires and people fear a weekend lightning storm could start more. to louisiana where four men and three women have been arrested in concludes withd wit

shooting. >> i told them their loved one, their father, was a hero. the people they lost their lives for that we have in custody, i believe, are some of the most violent, evil people in -- on the planet and they lost their lives, their loved ones are heroes. not us. not the financial teams, the stars, it's the police officers that gave their lives so we could be safe. >> you can see five of the suspects here. the shootings happened 25 miles outside of new orleans on thursday. the suspects first attacked a deputy while directing traffic. then they fled to their home in a trailer park and more deputies came to their homes to investigate and that's when the suspects open fire. to politics.

paul ryan wrapping up a whirlwind week on the campaign trail today in florida where he's expected to take on the issue of medicare head-on with a special guest, his mom. let's bring in cnn political editor paul steinhauser at the villages, where paul ryan is set to speak this morning. paul, i guess you picked the right place, right? villages is part of a central florida area with the largest number of social security recipients in the nation. this is i pretty critical speech in a pretty critical spot. >> reporter: exactly. take a look behind us. you can tell medicare will be a big issue. protect and strengthen medicare on the banner behind where paul ryan will speak. this is florida, of course, the biggest state when it comes to battle grounds. four years ago barack obama narrowly won florida. four years ago seniors made up a quarter of the voters who cast balance lots in presidential election that's why so much is

at stake. since ryan was named, his budget plan, which was dramatically alter medicare, has been a huge topic on the campaign trail. while the romney/ryan ticket has come under attack from the obama camp, they're pushing back. >> we want this debate on medicare. we want this debate, we need this debate and we're going to win this debate on medicare. i'll tell you why. there's only one person who treated medicare like a piggy barngs. that's president obama. he took $716 billion from that program to create obama care. >> reporter: politics here is simple. listen, they're saying they're going to protect medicare, which is a popular program, and

they're saying the president is taking money from medicare to pay for the president's health care plan. the president and his campaign say that's not true at all, the romney campaign has facts wrong and they're battling back with this new television commercial. >> barack obama and i approve this message. the nonpartisan aarp says obama care cracks down on medicare, fraud, waste and abuse and strengthens guaranteed benefits. and the ryan plan? aarp says it would undermine medicare and could lead to higher costs for seniors. experts say ryan's voucher plan could raise future retirees' cost more than $6,000. get the facts. >> reporter: two other quick notes. the mentioned the villages an hour north of orlando. republic country, no doubt doubt about it. paul ryan's mother will be here.

she lives part of the year here and part of the year in janesville, wisconsin. >> let me talk about something else here. we're getting a look at paul ryan's book, so to speak, with the release of his tax returns. in 2011 ryan and his wife reported a total income of just over $323,000. of that the ryan's paid almost $65,000 in taxes. that amounts to an effective tax rate of 20%. but it's not paul ryan's taxes that everyone, including the obama campaign, wants to know about, right? >> reporter: exactly. when did they release his taxes? last night, friday night. secondly, the ryans made more money than most middle class americans and paid a lower rate than most middle class americans because of those investments. you're right, it is the romney tax returns. that's what the obama campaign wants to see. this battle is not over yet. >> paul steinhauser, cnn

political editor in the area of orlando. thank you very much. one of paul ryan's colleagues in the house, democrat nancy pelosi, went for a few laughs in late night, talking to nbc's jimmy fallon as his selection as mitt romney's number two and ryan's now famous exercise routine. >> how about romney's pick, paul ryan? >> uh-huh. >> what are your thoughts on him? >> he's a nice person. >> yes. >> i don't know him well because i've never been to the gym. >> have you seen him with his shirt off? it's pretty awesome. the guy is ripped. yeah, the guy is ripped. >> it takes time. >> yes, p90x is very tough. i got the dvds. i made it to the first part and then just put on finding nemo. rover is already getting a new upgrade.

this should take about four days. we're getting a new look at the surface of the red planet. 360-degree color image was created from smaller pictures taken by the camera on the rover. can't get enough of those. here's what's coming up this hour. >> now video emerges from the fatal shooting of a man in arkansas but will it answer the question, was it suicide or homicide? neo-nazis, white supremacists, the kkk, these groups aren't dying out, they're growing. we're putting hate in the u.s. in focus. later -- >> this is where i suspect you'll find me. >> young, educated and american. so why did this 33-year-old georgetown grad pick up arms against the libyan government and why is he now heading to syria? we're here at walmart with anita and her two daughters.

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welcome back, everyone. 13 minutes past the hour. take a listen to this. that's exclusive video to cnn from front lines of libya who went there alone to fight. he spent months in a prison after being captured by moammar gadhafi's army. now he wants to go to syria. this isn't a thrill-seeker? >> right. he says he's going with the right intentions, his heart is in the right place. he went to a motorcycle trip a few years ago, made a lot of friends of the locals.

he has a master's degree from georgetown in security. now like he threw a dart at at map. he has no formal military experience or prior u.s. military service but he has had experience shooting guns, high-powered weapons, the experience in libya on the front lines. you can question his sanity but you can't question his commitment. 85 days in a prison in libya, it's sort is of incredible he was able to psychologically withstand that treatment there. >> what exactly is his goal, though, in going to syria? >> we've been talking back and forth, trading text messages. he says his goal is to be a film maker. he's not a journalist. he wants to make that clear. he has picked up weapons in libya as sort of -- under the geneva convention. as a journalist, once you pick up a weapon, you're no longer an objective observer. but going to syria, be a documentary film maker, fund this through kickstarter.com,

and he wants to bring attention to the syrian rebels, shed misconceptions about the movement and highlight their work against the assad regime. >> did he say anything -- is he concerned he could be captured in. >> i get the sense he's terrified. but he has this calling, something that makes him feel meant to go. something that calls certain people to certain countries and this is his calling. we talked to him in his interview. he doesn't like people that parachute into a country and leave. he has every intention to stay as he did in libya and see the regime fall. he says he'll be in syria in four weeks. but he's reluctant to go. >> his family, girlfriend support him? >> girlfriend of six years stuck with him through 85 days in prison. his mother, like last time, drove him to the airport in libya. she's planning on driving him to

the airport. he's from from south baltimore, maryland. his family supportive, probably why he has that confidence and has that support system. you have that support system in place, you feel like you can do anything. he feels like now he's going to syria and he'll be just as successful as he was in libya. >> we wish him luck. thank you for bringing us his story. we know you'll stay on this. we'll see how he does and when he gets back. thanks, nick. what goes through the mind of a hater? how early is it actually learned? we'll talk with a former skinhead who says he's had a chain of heart, part of our focus of hate in the usa. omewhe, emily went right on living. but you see, with the help of her raymond james financial advisor, she had planned for every eventuality. ...which meant she continued to have the means to live on... ...even at the ripe old age of 187. life well planned. see what a raymond james advisor can do for you.

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all morning long we've been focusing on hate in the usa.

what goes through the mind of one who hates? hating to the point they're willing to kill. that's what we wanted to find out. brian todd is on the case. >> reporter: randi, while law enforcement officials try to ascertain a specific motive for the shooting we're getting a glimpse of the mindset, of someone who says he's been in those shoes. he never met wade michael page but says he can identify with him. >> i can identify with him because i was there. if it wasn't for things that -- very fortunate things that happened to me along the way and help i got from other people, many of whom i had claimed to hate, i could have very easily ended up where wade page ended up on sunday. >> reporter: you could have done those killings? >> well, it's important to understand that wade page was living in this reality of terror that he had created. >> reporter: a similar reality he said he created for himself,

for seven years as a white supremacist skinhead. remnants of that life inked on his left arm. >> the ruins are north ruins and it says a contraction of racial holy war. >> reporter: he's fronted a supremacist bad. there wasn't a single episode that drove him into that life, he says. he says his parents were not racist but there was alcoholism and verbal abuse in his family which made him want to lash out. by age 17 he was moving in skinhead circles in milwaukee. he estimated he violently attacked people of other races or religions once a week for four or five years. what was the worst thing you did in. >> i've beaten people and then left them for dead. >> reporter: he believes if wade michael page was anything like he was, page was suffering in his final days.

>> his day-to-day life was nothing but terror. everywhere he looked in the world around him -- going to work, at work, getting home from work. everything threatened him. and when you are in that environment, there is no room for happiness. there's no room for joy. >> reporter: he says he attempted suicide twice. but in what can only be described as a twist in life, a seed was planted in arno to change. it came in a place he wouldn't have figured, from someone he never could have imagined. he'd started going to mcdonald's on paydays. he says he came upon an older, kindly, african-american woman working behind the counter who greeted him warmly as she took his order. >> i was really kind of disconcerted. it was -- it was hard when black people were very kind to me when i was trying to hate them. >> reporter: once after getting a swastika tattooed on his middle finger, he went back into that mcdonald's.

he found himself trying to hide the swastika from that lady, but she saw it. >> she looked me right in the eye and she says, i know you're a better person than that. that's not who you are. and i -- i just said, i can please have my big mac. i got my food. and i went and ate it. i never went back to that mcdonald's. >> reporter: never saw her again? >> never saw her again. but 20 years later i haven't forgotten that moment. >> reporter: it led him to eventually move away from those groups and to start his own. an organization called life after hate, dedicated to helping people transition out of that existence. i asked him what he'd say if a supremacist was sitting across from him now, contemplate. ing a similar, horrific act? >> i was challenge them to think about what happened after that. and to think about someone in their life who they love. >> reporter: he says his real

slap in the face moment came after a friend of his was murdered in a street fight. he's convinced the temple shootings in wisconsin were a slap in the face moment for at least one person in a hate group somewhere. he says he desperately wants to help them start to climb out of that hole. he says his real slap in the face moment came when a friend of his was murdered in a street fight. he's convinced that sunday's shootings were a slap in the face moment for someone in a hate group somewhere. he says he's desperate to help them. he wants them to go to his website called lifeafterhate.org so they can start to climb out of that hole. randi in. >> brian todd, thank you. coming up, we turn our focus to white supremacy group on our military bases. we'll talk with former defensive department detectives who investigated neo-nazis and skinheads infiltrating the army. the regimes ins syria's vice president would never defect.

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...we inspected his brakes for free. free is good. free is very good. my money. my choice. my meineke. welcome back. i'm randi kaye. where is one of syrian bashar al assad's right hand man? there are conflicting reports that vice president farouq al sharaa has deflected. a rebel spokesman says al sharaa fled damascus more than a week ago but the syrian regime seems to contradict that.

let's get the latest from nic robertson in abu dhabi this morning. the question is, where is the vice president? who is saying what? >> reporter: well, the government is firmly saying these are all rumors, he hasn't defect defected. spokesman of foreign ministry posted on his facebook page denials of this and we heard from the press agency saying al sharaa has been committed to helping the crisis since the beginning. now the most recent thing is he send his support -- or sports the new envoy for syria. that seems to imply he's still at his desk and working. we're not seeing pictures of him. he had the free syrian army telling us that he left damascus a week ago. he's been trying to get across the border into jordan. they lost contact with commanders on the ground so they don't know where he is. they're worried, they say, some of his family members may have been captured by the regime and that may force him to surrender. they say quite clearly he has

defect pd. this could just be -- could be just an escalation of a war on words, both sides here. >> let me ask you about this because a state-run syrian arab news agency has actually removed al sharaa's profile from its website. is that significant? >> reporter: i think it is. i mean, i think as well the fact we heard from the syrian news agency today as well saying there was a reshuffle at the cabinet, the health minister was gone, health minister was gone, there are clearly trobz at upper echelon of the government. we had defection of prime minister a couple weeks ago. the message that came across loud and clear there was, you can be a senior figure and you can get smuggled out of the country by the free syrian army. so, i think the fact we have not seen him, the vice president, is a very big indication that something is not right. what is happening is unclear. >> senior international correspondent nic robertson in

abu dhabi. syrian rebels say they're trying to help syrian's vice president flee the country but the regime insists he would never deflect. here's other stories making news this morning. paul ryan taking his pitch for medicare to voters who probably matter the most, seniors. he'll speak today at a florida retirement community called the villages, one of the largest such communities in the country. ryan will be joined today by his mom, a part-time florida resident who happens to be a medicare recipient. john lennon's killer is seeking freedom again. 57-year-old mark david chapman is up for parole for the seventh time. and could face a parole board as soon as tuesday. his last quest for freedom was denied two years ago. chapman's currently serving a sentence of 20 years to life for gunning down john lennon in 1980. a sad day for you harry potter fans out there. "the hunger games" trilogy has surpassed j.k. rowlings series

to be the best selling series ever on amazon.com, including paper prints and e-books. amazon point out "the hunger games" is a series of three books versus harry potter's seven. in arkansas people say chavis carter shot himself in the back of the squad car with his hands cuffed behind his back. some are wondering how is that physically possible? police set out to prove it. he'll hear what led up to the shooting.

34 minute past the hour. jonesboro, arkansas, police say this man, 21-year-old chavis carter shot himself with his han handcuffed behind his back. >> we patted him down, i don't know where. we were talking about to get back into the car. we thought we hear a funny noise. we heard a pop. we got in. >> some people remain skeptical about a person's physical ability to do what carter did so jonesboro police releaeased a video to show how easy it is. apparently the same height and build as carter. while handcuffed, you can clearly see this man reenact

shooting himself in the head as the video continues. we're joined by our senior legal analyst paul cowen to talk about this. we've talked about this case before. missing from both dash cam recordings that police released is the moment police say carter shot himself. that's because the squad cars were parked trunk to trunk and the dash cams weren't facing the backseat where carter was. what are police trying to do by releasing these videos? and do the dash cam tapes prove anything? >> i think they're trying to push public opinion in favor of the jonesboro police department. frankly, i think it's an amateur hour operation here. any law enforcement agency that's trying to objectively and fairly investigate an incident shouldn't be partially releasing pieces of evidence that they think exonerates their own police officers. they should be waiting until autopsy results are in, until

gunshot residue tests are in, if swabs were done on the other officers and suspect. a lot of things should be done before you do a reenactment. i'm a little shocked they would take this tact. people are a hard time accepting any conclusion they reach in the end because they're prematurely reaching evidence. >> it is strange. the fbi is watching this whole case, so that makes it more bizarre. on the dash cam video, paul, you can hear the officers talking about their plans to take carter to the county jail, even when his aunt comes by the scene. you can hear the officer actually telling her she can get him from jail, maybe in the next day or so. do you think that helps the officer's case and maybe speaks to their intention a bit? >> you know, i have to say overall, and i've looked at a lot of the releases so far, most would seem to exonerate the officers. with a man in handcuffs allegedly self-inflicting this

wound, you have to say, what would be the motivation of these cops? frankly, you know, the tone of the audio, when you hear the cops talking to the suspects and to everybody else, they're sort of speaking in a calm, measured way. it's not anger or high emotion. the kind of thing you might expect if they're about to kill a suspect who's handcuffed in the back of the police car. i think the tone and tenor would suspect the claims made by jonesboro police that this is a bizarre, maybe accident that happened, maybe an accidental discharge of the gun. i don't know what they're going to say, suicide. hard to say what they'll claim. that's my preliminary take on the audio and video. >> there are also interviews of witnesses police released, more information. we don't know, of course, if these witnesses were hand-picked by police or how many others they might have spoken with. listen to what one witness told a detective about where officers were when she heard what she

thought sounded like a gunshot. >> they put him in the backseat of the police car. >> okay. >> and then about 10, 15 minutes after that we heard a loud pop. i'm like, what is going on? >> you heard a pop? >> it sounded like a gun going off. >> so where were the police officers when you heard this? >> they were standing on the outside of the car. >> when you heard the pop, the doors were open? on the police car? >> the one he had in the backseat and one open. >> they were closed? >> yes, sir. >> that's pretty important stuff right there. what do you make of that? i mean, she put the police officers outside the car when she heard that shot. >> it really exonerates them having fired the fatal shot. if the doors to the squad car are closed, no evidence of damage to the window, nobody inside except the suspect, so this has to be a shot from the interior of the vehicle. she exonerates the police officers. now, she won't exxonerate them

from the big thing of they obviously botched a search of the suspect, if he was carrying a gun. he somehow struggled and it went off, causing this injury. but she certainly would exonerate the police officers as murderers in this case. that's a really important piece of evidence. >> well, we will continue to watch this case, paul cowen, along with you, a lot of folks have strong opinions about it. everybody is tweeting me this morning. you can continue to do that. you can find me on twitter @randikayecnn. as we find out from patrick, the food in cuba is something to rave about. >> reporter: people always ask me, where to eat? cuba? i always say palodars, that means people's home, private restaurants. let's go into one of my favorites here in downtown havana. one of the best that i go to.

♪ >> before you go in cuba and it look the like what it was, someone's home. they have a man here making mojitos. it's really set up like a restaurant. it's not a government restaurant. it's actually someone's business. until recently, that's not something that was very common in cuba. but laws have been changing, allowing people to have their own businesses. this is famous for its seafood so i think that's what we'll try today. they just brought me this beautiful plate of lobster and shrimp and fish. it looks great. i have to say, sitting out here on this terrace where you have an incredible view of havana, a nice breeze. just a relaxing place to be. i can't think of a better place

to be right now. this looks fantastic. i'm going to go ahead and dig in.

budget cuts are forcing school districts to scale back on teachers and staff. a new report from the white house this morning says the country has lost 300,000 education jobs since 2009. that's resulted in larger class sizes and fewer school days. president obama says the trend has to be reversed if america is ever to compete. for the last several weeks we've been looking at education and the state of our schools. earlier this month the head of the d.c. public school system joined us on this show. she argued students in the u.s. aren't making the grade compared

to students in other countries. her solution? merit pay. taking a better look at how our tax dollars are being spent in schools. listen. >> there are hundreds of thousands, millions of teachers in this country who are absolutely amazing. they do incredible things for children. they should be recognized and rewarded and valued for their work. and there are other teachers who are not making the grade. they're not producing the games and student achievement we need for our children. for those teachers to be paid the exact same amount as effective teachers makes no sense whatsoever. >> after that interview, a lot of you weighed in. diane even wrote an opinion piece about it on our blog, research professor of education at nyu, former assistant secretary of education, to president george h.w. bush and author of "the death and life of great american school system." i spoke with her earlier and here's what she had to tell me.

in an article that you wrote for cnn.com, you said, quote, the only valid measure of academic performance in our schools is the federal test called national assessment of education process, the naep test scores of american students are in their highest point in history, for black students, white students, hispanic students and asian student. would it be safe to say you think education in our country has never been better than it is right now? >> i think right now our kids are achieving at a higher rate than they've ever achieved and education is under assault. it's not because of the teachers or the principals. it's because of there is a massive movement under way to privatize our schools. this whole narrative about the failure of american schools is a phoney narrative. >> let's talk about the aclu because it filed a lawsuit on behalf of nearly 1,000 students attending public schools in highland park, michigan. they say the school district is failing to teach students how to read. i want to show you this letter written by an eighth grader.

try and read it to you. it says, quote, you can make the school gooder by getting people that will do the job that is pay for, get a football tame for the kinds maybe a basketball tame get a other jam teacher for the school get a lot of toche. reading has increased by a point, but isn't this disappointing to you? what is your take on that? >> it said one student can't read but that says nothing about american education. you can always find one example, an anecdote is not a trend. there will always be some kids who do poorly, for whatever reason. an anecdote doesn't mean anything. what you look at, which is why i said in the beginning of my article, the only valid measure is the national assessment of educational progress, which has been counting academic achievement since the early 1970s. on that measure, american students today have the highest

test scores in history, in reading and in math. white students, black students, hispanic students and asian students. i might also add the graduation rate today is the highest it's ever been and the dropout rate is the lowest it's ever been. >> let me point out what you said. you said that's one student who can't read or write there, but this lawsuit filed by the aclu is on behalf of 1,000 students, not just one student. >> well, you know, i think it's terrible that that student and those students didn't get a good education. wherever that happens, the state has an obligation of remedying it. what highland park, michigan, is doing instead of remedying that student's education is to privatize their schools. that district has been handed over by the state of michigan for-profit charter corporation, a corporation that will make a profit because the district has a $12 million deficit. that corporation will now take $12 million in profits out of the district. whether they'll do a better job, we can't say because they haven't started. what we do know is all their

other schools in michigan are very low performing. >> when you talk about how we're doing better than ever, and then you look at this case filed on behalf of 1,000 students, how do you make sense of that? how does that square with we're doing better than ever? >> the way you make sense of it is that's a district that has very high levels of poverty. that is very underfunded. and the state of michigan has an obligation to step in and make sure teachers are properly trained, they have the resources they need, the curriculum and tools they need to do a better job. instead, the state of michigan is privatizing that district and giving it to a for-profit corporation. >> so, you're saying that this is because of poverty. what about the responsibility of the teachers? >> well, of course teachers are responsible, but that doesn't necessarily mean the teachers are bad. you know, without doing an evaluation, have you no way of knowing. you can't just automatically say the scores are low. you have bad teachers. there are all kinds of things that play into low test scores. i might add, the aclu didn't blame teachers. the aclu blamed the state of

michigan and said they were suing the state of michigan and many other actors. they didn't just say teachers were solely responsible for the situation in highland park, michigan. >> you mentioned that because our public schools education 90% of the population, we should give public schools some credit for our nation's accomplishment as the greatest innovation. recently electronic association said our school system was failing to provide strong science and math education to students. because of that, companies now outsourcing jobs to more qualified technology workers in other countries. how do you explain that? what do you say to that? >> i think they're outsourcing jobs because they're sending them to nations where the workers are cheaper. there are plenty of people -- >> you say it has nothing to do with education? >> absolutely not. there are plenty of unemployed people who have excellent education in math and in science. they can't find jobs. because american workers want too much money. that's why these corporations

are outsourcing to india and china because they can get engineers who are less well trained, less well educated but get them much, much cheaper inspect is about the cost of labor. the corporations not wanting to pay the cost of american workers. >> in many lines of wok, the best performance -- best performers get better pay. i know how you feel about merit pay for teachers, but why shouldn't the same be true for teachers and award those who consistently inspire and enlighten our children? >> teachers don't want. merit pay because they understand merit pay will force them to teach to bad tests. they don't want to compete with one another for test scores. teachers understand, and this is -- i've talked to literally a couple hundred thousand teachers. >> you're saying they don't want more money? >> they want more money but they don't want merit pay. they want to be paid more for doing more but they don't want to compete based on test scores. test scores are not a measure of who's a good teacher. it be a measure of who's a very bad teacher who drills the kids in test prep. teachers want to work as teams,

they want to collaborate. they understand if a child gets a high test score, it can be the result of cheating, the result of drilling to the test, which are both bad, but basically what makes the schoolwork is teamwork and collaboration. teachers want that kind of a culture of teamwork. they don't want to compete with one another for test scores and to be treated like donkeys where they're competed f competing fo carrot. >> this is a heat debate. i want to share some comments your article generated, a whole lot of comments, good bad. let me read you this one from lucas. he says i'm a teacher in a low income school. teachers can and do make a profound difference and they can overcome the intimidating obstacles created by poverty. some of my eighth graders attend school regularly but cannot even read on a first grade level. this is a scandal. merit pay need not be done in a way that makes teachers compete within their school. offering a a bonus for a job

well done is not a war on teachers. how do you respond? >> new york city tried giving merit pay, that failed. nashville offered $15,000 bonus for higher test scores. that failed. chicago tried another form of merit pay. that failed. it simply doesn't work. of course, poverty can be overcome, teachers make a difference. you can look at any testing program, s.a.t., international test, any state test, they all show the high income kids are at the top and the low income kids are at the bottom because poverty makes a difference. >> diane, thank you very much. appreciate it. >> thank you. new video released in the case of a handcuffed man who was shot in a police car. investigators hope to put to rest questions about whether or not it was self-inflicted. you'll get your chance to weigh in in just moments. no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot

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earlier we asked you what you think happened the nice chavis carter died. arkansas police say he shot himself in the head after he was searched, handcuffed and put in the back of a police car. carter's family and others suspect foul play. robin tweeted asking, is there residue on his hands? end of story. if not, you know the answer. the answer to that, by the way, robin is that we don't know yet because forensics haven't come back yet. shadow warrior says, i say the cops assassinated the punk. no cop is going to admit to be so incompetent as not to search

a bad guy. there were two searches, according to the chief, and the gun was missed both times. a bizarre murder mystery at a california mansion.

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begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. good morning. i'm randi kaye. thanks for waking up with us. the syrian regime is denying rebel claims that one of the most powerful men in the government is trying to flee. a rebel spokesman tells cnn that syrian vice president farouq al sharaa fled damascus a week ago. he's apparently not in jordan yet. nic robertson joining us from our bureau in abu dhabi. what is the latest on the vice president's whereabouts? >> reporter: well, the latest seems to be the denial from the

government that they say he hasn't gone, he's been loyal to the regime throughout this crisis, and, indeed, sort of commenting on the most recent u.n. appointment of a new u.n. representative to syria. so, the government's trying to play the game that he's still there. but interestingly, one of the free syrian army spokesmen said, look, tomorrow is a day, the end of ramadan tonight. tomorrow there would be a big prayer service. you should normally expect to see farouq al sharaa standing up there with the president. they say they don't expect to see him. indeed, they dare the president, they dare the government to show him on tv because they don't believe the government has him. that he is on his way out of syria, even though the free syrian army say they've lost contact with the commander helping him with that escape. >> al sharaa is really the most powerful sunni muslim figure in the president's minority-led regime there.

so, how significant would his defection be, do you think? would it have an impact? >> reporter: it should have an impact because it sends out ripples. look, the prime minister quit a couple of weeks ago. and that was proof for the free syrian army, for others who want to defect, that now they can be, you know, helped to escape the country. you have the government today announcing a resffle, there's going to be a new health minister, new industry minister, a new justice minister, indications these -- the government no longer considers these people stable or they may have even themselves tried to leave. if he leaves and tries to get out, or even if he's just trying to leave and gets caught, it's a very big signal to those people wavering whether or not they can support assad, where they should show their allegiance at this time of crisis in the country. really, it just shows he's undermined and can only weaken bashar al assad's position and precipitate a more speedy demise of his regime.

>> senior international correspondent nic robertson reporting from abu dhabi. thank you. now a story that is turning a global spotlight onto strict antiabortion laws. a grieving more than in the dominican republic says her pregnant teenage daughter died because doctors waited too long to give her chemotherapy. the 16-year-old had leukemia but was also 13 weeks pregnant. doctors hesitated to give her chemo because it could have terminated the pregnancy. 20 days after the teen was admitted to the hospital, she finally started receiving treatment but it was too late. her body rejected a blood transfusion and she died yesterday after suffering a miscarriage hours earlier. now to louisiana. four men and three women have been arrested in connection with the shooting that left two sheriff's deputies dead, two others wounded. listen to what the sheriff told one victim's family. >> i tell them, their loved one,

their father, was a hero. the people they lost their lives for, that we have in custody, i believe, are some of the most violent, evil people on the planet. and they lost their lives. their loved ones are heroes. not us. not the football teams, not the stars. it's the police officers that gave their lives so we all could be safe. >> you can see five of the suspects right there on your screen. the shootings happened 25 miles outside new orleans on thursday. the suspects first attacked a deputy while directing traffic and then fled to their homes in a trailer park. later, more deputies came to their home to investigate and the suspects open fire. the villages is home to one of the largest retirement communities in the country. ryan's controversial budget has been a hot-button issue, thanks in part to its steep cuts to

medicare. our political editor, paul steinhauser is at the villages this morning, where all the action is. you spoke to some seniors gathering there. have they picked a side yet in this fight over medicare? >> reporter: yeah, this is a very, very important issue, as you can imagine here. people in this state, to people in the villages, and this is republican country. sarah palin held a very large rally here four years ago. medicare is definitely coming up today. on the stage, strength and protect medicare. that's the sign you'll see behind paul ryan. medicare has become a huge issue since ryan was named one week ago as mitt romney's running mate. probably mostly because of ryan' house budget plan which would dramatically alter medicare. take a listen to some seniors i spoke to and what they said. >> to all the seniors and i -- i would like the romney and ryan to really do their job. i and know they're going to do a

wonderful job. >> i think that paul ryan and mitt romney really have a handle on medicare issue. and if people listen to him very closely, he'll spell it it out in minute detail and i think that's the way to go. >> it's important, but i'm all for ryan and romney's plan. down with obama. >> reporter: ryan will be joined by another senior citizen today, his mother. she's on medicare. she lives part time of the year down here in florida, ft. lauderdale, the rest of the year up in wisconsin. you know the romney campaign has been pushing back from attacks on the obama campaign. they say the president will take money from medicare to pay for his health care law. >> yes, it's going to be interesting to see this debate continue. paul steinhauser, thank you. one of paul ryan's colleagues in the house, democrat nancy pelosi, went for a few laughs late night talking to jimmy fallon about his selection as mitt romney's number two and ryan's now famous

exercise routine. listen. >> how about romney's pick, paul ryan, what are your thoughts on him? >> he's a nice person. >> yes. >> i don't really know him well because i've never been to the gym. >> have you seen him with his shirt off? it's pretty awesome. the guy is ripped. yeah, the guy is ripped. >> it takes time. >> it does. the p90x is very tough. i got the dvds. i made it to the first part and then i put on "finding mno." ♪

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this week we're taking a look at a murder mystery in california. police say the case is closed but my next guest is pleading with officials to reopen the investigation into her son's death. his name is max and he would have turned 7 last month. here he is with his mom in 2009. >> you always have me in your heart, remember? and where else? >> in your thinkings, thoughts. >> yeah. >> and your mommy's thoughts. >> and in your where? in your heart, your mind. >> you mean right here? >> last july max fell over a staircase at his father's california mansion and went into a coma. three days later, emergency

crews were called back to the home. that's when they found the lifeless body of 32-year-old rebecca, the girlfriend of max's father, who was home with max the day that he fell. she was found naked and hanging from the second story balcony. her hands and feet bound. max died from his injuries a couple of days after that. two tragedies at one mansion in less than a single week. was max murdered? was rebecca? police say, no, ruling his death an accident and rebecca a suicide. max's mother joins me with her attorney. thank you for joining us. dina, i'm so sorry for the loss of your son. >> thank you. >> it's heart breaking to see the two of you together in that video as well. you've conducted a private investigation into max's death. and want the case reopened and investigated as a homicide. tell me first about your investigation and what you found. >> well, nine months ago i hired

doctors from san francisco. maybe you can speak to the findings of the experts. >> the most significant findings from our experts that show this was not an accident and was, in fact, an assault scenario is max fell on the top, vertex of his head, not front forehead. the back injuries were not the result of an impact. they were the result of scraping, pushing against the railing. his sister of gravity would not have allowed him to go over the bannister the way the summary says. there were no dicing injuries from grabbing at a chandelier. and the multiple injuries on his body, including recessed body areas, like the inside of your eye and nose and neck, would not have happened from an accidental fall. >> now, had you suspected this might be a homicide before these findings, dina?

>> i was perplexed with the findings of san diego sheriff's deputy and coronado police department. when i was given debriefing all i saw was the diagram they presented to me and it didn't even look like max. the figure looked much taller. i did receive the report from their expert until three weeks later. and their report summed it up, saying it was a dog, a ball or a scooter. it wasn't really clear. so, it didn't make sense. it didn't add up. i didn't know what happened. i was hoping that the coronado police department would have, you know, gone further than they did at the time. >> we have this police animation showing how they believe your son died. they say he fell over the railing of this three-story staircase, as we're looking now, tumbled, hit the rail on his back, landing on the floor, hitting his head. again, angela, you say he couldn't have fallen like this. >> that's what our experts say. these are very seasoned, respected experts. they spent nine months going over this, rebuilding staircase, looking at a scooter, doing all

the work that experts do. the only scenario they could come up with in collaboration was that this was an assault scenario, that his death was the result of the hands of someone else. >> and why do you say that the injuries to your son's face, dina, and his head and his body, they're just not consistent with the fall, because i know you have those photos, as we showed just before of your son's back, and the hands you say are proof that his death was not an accident. what do those photos tell you? >> well, according to doctors -- dr. melinik, given the injuries are in recessed areas, like the inside of the eye, if someone were to fall face-first, the areas injured would be your nose, forehead, chin. instead, max had these injuries on the inside of his eye. his eyelid. that didn't make sense. that is not something that is typical, apparently, of a typical fall but, rather, an assault scenario. i would like to add the back injuries he had, they were

abrasions. they were superficial wounds but abrasions and then there were some contusions. also dr. bo did an excellent job of creating actually a video that showed, compared the photo from the me's office to the railing and showed those injuries matched the pattern of the staircase -- or the railing. >> you know, so often on programs we talk about how somebody died. i do want to ask you, dina, about how your son lived and what he was like. we'll do that in a moment. if i can ask you both to stick around. i want to talk about your son, max, and i also want to talk more about the investigation.

♪ happy birthday dear maxy ♪ happy birthday to you >> we're continuing my interview now with attorney angela and her client, dina. dina remains certain her son's death was not an accident and even hired independent medical experts to review the case with her. you shared these personal videos of max with us, his birthday, playing soccer. before we get back into the case, tell me a bit about your son. >> thanks for asking. he was an amazing treasure for me. i was so lucky to have him. i told him that every single day. so when i saw him in the morning, i would look at him, with his great big smile, and i would tell him and think to myself, i won the lottery, because he was such a joy. he loved to play soccer. he played since he was 2. he played -- so he was a

5-year-old playing against 6 and 7-year-olds on his blackhawks club. he had a sweetie for two years. he was loyal and generous. and one of the things i think is notable about him was, as in life, he was very generous in death. when he died, he saved three other people through his organ donation of, one, his liver, saved an 11 nld, a-month-old, a adults with his kidney. he was an amazing boy. he loved life. he loved his friends and family and we miss him very, very much. >> i'm sure this is difficult. he was a beautiful little boy. you can see that in this video. what exactly do you think happened to your son, dina? >> i believe the experts did such a thorough job and they really -- their analysis was methodical. i believe -- i believe them and i believe there was an accident scenario and max, as a result,

died. and i believe that judy is correct when she says there was a homicide. i would then encourage the k coronado police department reopen this case. would he presented our scientific information, real science. real science doesn't lie. from there, they can use that to start their own -- to reopen the investigation and consider things they had not considered before. >> your experts case report says all the evidence put together supports rebecca's direct involvement. do you believe someone actually killed your son? >> i believe that -- i believe that max was the victim of a homicide. however, i think it's important the coronado police department -- i'm not the expert in that area. i believe it is their responsibility and their job to reopen and for them to determine that. i would like to say, i know how it is to lose a son. i can only imagine their son is

grieving just as much to lose a daughter and a seniister. my heart goes out to them, certainly. again, this is something the coronado police department really, hopefully, will do the right thing and reopen this case and amend the disposition. and they can. they can do that. >> i want to share with our viewers, rebecca's family statement because they're saying rebecca zahou, we believe homicide conclusions are unsuspeu unsupported. while our family grieves maxie's death, the thought that rebecca would cause max harm is prepo preposterous. how seriously do you think the police are sayitaking this? >> we met with them for three hours, had our experts present, they seemed very receptive. it's now been over three weeks. we hope that they're working on

this. we hope they're meeting about it and we hope shortly we'll get an answer but they did not give us a timeline. >> thank you, both, angela and dina. appreciate your time. keep us up to date with what happens in this case. no matter what small business you are in, managing expenses seems to... get in the way. not anymore. ink, the small business card from chase introduces jot an on-the-go expense app made exclusively for ink customers. custom categorize your expenses anywhere. save time and get back to what you love. the latest innovation. only for ink customers. learn more at chase.com/ink your doctor will say get smart about your weight. that's why there's glucerna hunger smart shakes. they have carb steady, with carbs that digest slowly to help minimize blood sugar spikes. [ male announcer ] glucerna hunger smart. a smart way to help manage hunger and diabetes. with less chronic osteoarthritis pain.

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here are some stories making news. paul ryan taking his pitch for medicare to the voters who probably care the most, seniors. he's speaking at a florida retirement community called the villages, one of the largest such communities in the country. ryan will be joined by his mom, a part-time florida resident who happens to be a medicare recipient. new this morning, health officials are warning people to throw out any cantaloupes from southwest indiana because of a salmonella outbreak. two people dead, 140 people sick from that tainted fruit. this is effecting 20 states highlighted on the screen. the outbreak began in july. health officials are warning people, don't try to wash the fruit because both the outside and inside could actually be infected. just last year 29 people died from a listeria outbreak in cantaloupe. john lennon's killer is seeking freedom yet again. 57-year-old mark david chapman is up for parole for the seventh time and could face a parole